Salad bar apparatus

ABSTRACT

An apparatus wherein an upper housing fixedly secures an aligned series of dispensing tubes. The dispensing tubes include an upper opaque portion overlying a conical lower transparent portion. The upper portion includes a first valve to dispense food components into the lower portion, with the lower portion including a second valve tube to permit directing of the food onto individual plates by patrons of the apparatus. The organization includes a catch tray underlying a support grid to contain food components having fallen through the support grid. The invention may further include a modified dispensing tube housing defining an enclosed conduit operably associated to an air conditioning duct to provide cooling and chilling of food components contained within the dispensing tubes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The field of invention relates to salad bar structure, and moreparticularly pertains to a new an improved salad bar apparatus whereinthe same provides for a convenient and sanitary dispensing of discreteportions of food in a salad bar scenario.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Conventional salad bars provide varying applications of refrigeration tocontain food components for selection by patrons. The use of suchcontainers in conventional salad bars requires multiple handling ofutensils and potential unhealthy manipulation of food componentscontained within the containers. The instant invention attempts toovercome deficiencies of the prior art by providing dispensing tubesthat permit individuals to dispense predetermined portions into a lowerportion of a dispensing tube for visual observation thereof and permitthe dispensing of discrete portions of that food into a support plateand the like for use by individuals in a sanitary manner. Examples ofprior art salad bar structure may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,340 toJohnson setting forth a refrigerated salad bar directing refrigerant tocontainers mounted within the framework of the salad bar structure.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,598 to Moore, Jr. sets forth a salad bar structurewherein various food support trays are mounted within refrigerated icein a surrounding relationship.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,579 to Wolfe provides for alternative heating andcooling of food in a salad bar by directing such heating and cooling ina surrounding relationship underlying the support containers of thesalad bar.

U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 282,612 and 260,708 set forth further examples ofconventional salad bar configurations.

As such, it may be appreciated that there continues to be a need for anew and improved salad bar apparatus as set forth by the instantinvention which addresses both the problems of ease of use as well aseffectiveness in construction and in this respect, the present inventionsubstantially fulfills this need.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types ofsalad bar organizations now present in the prior art, the presentinvention provides a salad bar apparatus wherein the same provides forsanitary selective dispensing of food components in a salad barorganization. As such, the general purpose of the present invention,which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide anew and improved salad bar apparatus which has all the advantages of theprior art salad bar organizations and none of the disadvantages.

To attain this, the present invention provide an apparatus wherein anupper housing fixedly secures an aligned series of dispensing tubes. Thedispensing tubes include an upper opaque portion overlying a conicallower transparent portion. The upper portion includes a first valve todispense food components into the lower portion, with the lower portionincluding a second valve tube to permit directing of the food ontoindividual plates by patrons of the apparatus. The organization includesa catch tray underlying a support grid to contain food components havingfallen through the support grid. The invention may further include amodified dispensing tube housing defining an enclosed conduit operablyassociated to an air condition duct to provide cooling and chilling offood components contained within the dispensing tubes.

My invention resides not in any one of these features per se, but ratherin the particular combination of all of them herein disclosed andclaimed and it is distinguished from the prior art in this particularcombination of all of its structures for the functions specified.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more importantfeatures of the invention in order that the detailed description thereofthat follows may be better understood, and in order that the presentconstruction to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course,additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafterand which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon whichthis disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for thedesigning of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out theseveral purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore,that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructionsinsofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention.

Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S.Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially thescientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiarwith patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from acursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure ofthe application. The abstract is neither intended to define theinvention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is itintended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way. Itis therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new andimproved salad bar apparatus which has all the advantages of the priorart salad bar organizations and none of the disadvantages.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a new andimproved salad bar apparatus which may be easily and efficientlymanufactured and marketed.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new andimproved salad bar apparatus which is of a durable and reliableconstruction.

An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new andimproved salad bar apparatus which is susceptible of a low cost ofmanufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and whichaccordingly is then susceptible of low prices of salt to the consumingpublic, thereby making such salad bar apparatus economically availableto the buying public.

Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a newand improved salad bar apparatus which provides in the apparatuses andmethods of the prior art some of the advantages thereof, whilesimultaneously overcoming some of the disadvantages normally associatedtherewith.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new andimproved salad bar apparatus wherein the same provides for individualdispensing of various food components preventing manual tampering andmanipulation of those components.

These together with other objects of the invention, along with thevarious features of novelty which characterize the invention, arepointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming apart of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention,its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses,reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptivematter in which there is illustrated preferred embodiments of theinvention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be better understood and objects other than those setforth above will become apparent when consideration is given to thefollowing detailed description thereof. Such description makes referenceto the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an isometric illustration of a prior art salad bar apparatus.

FIG. 2 is a further example of a prior art salad bar apparatus.

FIG. 3 is an isometric illustration of dispensing tubes utilized by theinstant invention.

FIG. 4 is an orthographic frontal view, taken in elevation, of theinvention.

FIG. 5 is an isometric illustration of a modification of the instantinvention utilizing a cooling duct in surrounding relationship relativeto dispensing tubes.

FIG. 6 is an orthographic view, taken in elevation, of a typicaldispensing tube utilized by the instant invention.

FIG. 7 is an orthographic cross-sectional illustration of one of thedispensing tubes utilized by the instant invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 to 7thereof, a new and improved salad bar apparatus embodying the principlesand concepts of the present invention and generally designated by thereference numeral 10 will be described.

FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art salad bar apparatus 1, wherein a supportframework 2 utilizing overlying covering 3 secures various trays 4 thatare in communication with a refrigerating medium underlying the trays,in a manner as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,340. FIG. 2 illustratesa further prior art salad bar apparatus 5, wherein the framework 6includes a well structure 7 securing various food support trays 8therewithin and surrounded by a cooling medium such as ice and the like.

More specifically, the salad bar apparatus 10 of the instant inventionessentially comprises a plurality of support posts 11 defining agenerally rectangular parallelepiped configuration fixedly mounting amedial support shelf 13 orthogonally between forward and rear pairs ofthe support posts 11. The medial support shelf 13 removably mounts acatch tray container 12 that is supported thereon, with the catch traycontainer 12 of a length coextensive with the medial support shelf 13 tocontain and secure various food components inadvertently dropped thereonin a food dispensing procedure to be discussed below. An optional bottomstorage shelf 14 (see FIG. 5) is removably mounted to bottom footportions of each of the support posts. A support grid 15 is arrangedparallel to and spaced above the catch tray container 12 and is formedof intersecting rods 16 fixedly and orthogonally arranged relative toone another to define an open rigrid mesh organization to permit variousfood components directed onto the support grid 15 to be directed throughthe mesh and secured within the catch tray container 12 positionedtherebelow and as illustrated, the support grid 15 is coextensive withthe catch tray container 12 between forward and rear support post pairsas illustrated. A series of dispensing tubes 17 defines an aligned rowof dispensing tubes equally spaced relative to one another, with each ofthe dispensing tubes mounted within a dispensing tube support housing18. The support housing 18 secures the dispensing tubes therewithin,with the upper end of the dispensing tubes arranged for receiving anddefining a magazine for securement of various quantities of salad bartype food components positioned within each of the dispensing tubes fromabove. Each dispensing tube is defined by an opaque cylindrical upperbody portion 19 that is mounted within the dispensing tube supporthousing 18 and with each dispensing tube 17 directed below thedispensing tube support housing 18 terminating in a transparent conicallower portion 20 in contrast to the opaque cylindrical body portion 19.The transparent conical body portion 20 includes a series of gradations23 mounted thereon, whereupon visual observation of each concentrationof food contained within each lower portion 20 a patron may dispense apredetermined quantity of such food from the lower portion, in a mannerto be described. A reciprocatably mounted first valve rod 21 is mounteddiametrically through the opaque cylindrical body portion 19 and extendsoutwardly thereof terminating in a first valve rod handle. By retractionof the first valve rod 21, a predetermined quantity of a food componentis directed from the opaque cylindrical body portion 19 into theunderlying transparent conical lower portion 20, wherein a patron maydispense an initial quantity of food through a first valve, includingthe first valve rod 21 into the conical lower portion 20, whereupon asecond valve including a second valve rod 22 that is rotatably mountedabout a lower terminal end of the lower portion 20 permits dispensing offood into support grids and the like, as illustrated in FIG. 4.

Reference to FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate a typical dispensing tube 17utilized wherein the opaque cylindrical body portion 19 includes aconical funnel 27 fixedly mounted coaxially within the body portion 19overlying the lower portion 20. The conical funnel 27 terminates in alowermost annular funnel outlet 28 defined by a first predetermineddiameter, wherein a first valve plate 29 overlies the funnel outlet 28and is also defined of a diameter substantially equal to the firstpredetermined diameter. A compression spring 30 is mounted between thefirst valve plate 29 and an interior surface of the body portion 19 insurrounding relationship relative to the first valve rod 21 to bias thefirst valve plate 29 into an initial position to overlie the funneloutlet 28. Upon food being dispensed into the transparent conical lowerportion 20, an individual may by rotation of the second valve rod 22utilizing the second valve rod handle 22a effect rotation of a secondvalve plate 32 within the second outlet opening 31 formed at a lowerterminal end of the lower portion 20. The second outlet opening 31 isdefined by a second predetermined diameter and the second valve plate 32of an annular configuration also of the second predetermined diameter.

FIG. 5 illustrates a modified salad bar apparatus 10a, wherein amodified dispensing tube support housing 18a is utilized defining anenclosed conduit, with an inlet duct 25 at one end thereof and an outletduct 24 at an opposite end, wherein the inlet duct 25 is fixedly and incommunication with an air conditioner duct member 26 to direct airconditioning cooling air through the defined conduit of the modifieddispensing support housing 18 to effect chilling and refrigeration offood components within the dispensing tube 17.

As to the manner of usage and operation of the instant invention, thesame should be apparent from the above disclosure, and accordingly nofurther discussion relative to the manner of usage and operation of theinstant invention shall be provided.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized thatthe optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, toinclude variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and mannerof operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obviousto one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to thoseillustrated in the drawings and described in the specification areintended to be encompassed by the present invention.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of theprinciples of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications andchanges will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is notdesired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operationshown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications andequivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of theinvention.

What is claimed as being new and desired to be protected by LettersPatent of the United States is as follows:
 1. A salad bar apparatuscomprising,a framework, the framework including a support grid mountedwithin the framework, the support grid spaced from and underlying adispensing tube support housing, with the dispensing tube supporthousing mounted in the framework, and the dispensing tube supporthousing including a plurality of dispensing tubes fixedly mounted withinthe dispensing tube support housing, and each dispensing tube includingan upper dispensing tube portion fixedly mounted within the dispensingtube support housing, and a lower portion positioned below thedispensing tube support housing coaxially aligned with the upperdispensing tube portion to direct a food component through eachdispensing tube, and wherein the upper dispensing tube portion is opaqueand the lower dispensing tube portion is transparent, and the upperdispensing tube portion includes a first valve to direct food from theupper dispensing tube portion into the lower dispensing tube portion,and the lower dispensing tube portion includes a second valve to directfood contained within the lower dispensing tube portion to a positionexteriorly thereof, and wherein the upper dispensing tube portion iscylindrical and the lower dispensing tube portion is conical andincludes a series of gradations mounted thereon for visual observationof a quantity of food to be dispensed from the lower dispensing tubeportion, and further including a medial support shelf spaced below andparallel the support grid, the medial support shelf including a catchtray container removably mounted overlying the medial support shelf andcoextensive therewith to receive and contain food components directedthrough the support grid, the support grid formed of intersecting rodsto define an open rigid mesh, and wherein the first valve includes a rodreciprocatably and diametrically directed through the upper dispensingtube portion, and the reciprocatable rod including a first valve plate,and a conical funnel coaxially arranged within the upper dispensing tubeportion, with the conical funnel including a lowermost funnel outletoverlying the first valve plate, and the lowermost funnel outlet definedby a first predetermined diameter and the first valve plate defined by adiameter equal to the first predetermined diameter, and a biasing meanssecured to the first valve rod to bias the first valve plate into afirst position overlying the lowermost funnel outlet and manuallydisplaced to a second position removed from the lowermost funnel outlet,and wherein the lower dispensing tube portion includes a second outletopening formed at a lower terminal end thereof defined by a secondpredetermined diameter, and the second valve rod rotatably mountedthrough the second outlet opening and including a second valve platerotatably mounted within the second outlet opening, wherein the secondvalve plate is of an annular configuration and of a valve plate diameterequal to the second predetermined diameter, and wherein the dispensingtube support housing includes an enclosed conduit, and a cooling mediumdelivery conduit, and the enclosed conduit including an inlet opening incommunication with the cooling medium delivery conduit including acooling medium, and the cooling medium directed through the dispensingtube support housing about each upper dispensing tube portion, and thedispensing tube support housing including an outlet to direct thecooling medium therefrom and to permit circulation thereof.